text: the presidium of the supreme soviet of the ussr existed from 1936 when the supreme soviet of the ussr replaced the congress of soviets with its central executive committee that administered in between sessions headed by the presidium of the central executive committee in 1936 this was replaced with the presidium of the supreme soviet alone no central executive committee and from this year to 1989 the chairman of the presidium of the supreme soviet was the formal title of the head of state of the ussr until the office of chairman of the supreme soviet was introduced in 1990 later to be replaced by the president of the soviet union the republics of the soviet union were each led by presidiums such as the presidium of the supreme soviet of the russian soviet federative socialist republic and the presidium of the supreme soviet of the ukrainian soviet socialist republic whose chairmen were the de facto leaders of those republics from 1952 to 1966 the politburo of the communist party of the soviet union was known as the presidium of the central committee of the communist party but despite the similarity in name with the presidium of the supreme soviet